A confraternity binding on an abundantly illustrated and lavishly printed pocket breviary. Printed in small types, the edition is ornamented with woodcut tailpieces, several printed in red, and one in both red and black. Printed in small types, the edition is ornamented with woodcut tailpieces, several printed in red, and one in both red and black.

By the 17th century the confraternities of Penitents numbered in the hundreds, so much so that they came to be known by the colors of their robes (the white, green, blue, black penitents, etc.). Baudrier and Galle describe a binding tool used by a branch of penitents known as the “Compagnie des pénitents de la Sainte-Croix, Mort et Passion de Notre-Seigneur-Jésus-Christ,” founded in 1681, but earlier bindings with similar tools belonging to other Penitent confraternities are known. Bridwell Library, for example, owns a late 16th-century or early 17th-century example on a late 16th-century Book of Hours. The present example appears to be mid-17th century. As in the later examples cited by Baudrier and Galle, the name of the confrère to whom this breviary was given is stamped above the confraternity’s emblem. Cf. Julien Baudrier & Léon Galle, Armorial des bibliophiles de Lyonnais, Forez, Beaujolais et Dombes (1907), vol. I, p. 156. Item #2714